David Higgins - Open Qualifying

Poker Face

With a spot in the British Open within his grasp, European Tour veteran David Higgins lost a 3-for-2 playoff in perhaps the cruelest way possible: receiving a two-stroke penalty after discovering a 15th club in his bag.

Higgins finished the 36-hole qualifier at North Berwick at 5-under 137, tied for second place alongside Gareth Wright and George Murray with only three total qualifying spots available. As the playoff got underway, Higgins discovered the extra club in his bag. A two-stroke penalty resulted, and the 41-year-old was eliminated with a double bogey on the first extra hole.

According to tweets from the Irish Golf Desk, Higgins put his clubs back in his car following the afternoon round, assuming that he was done for the day. An extra club was in the car's trunk, and while it remains uncertain whether player or caddie put the club back into the bag, the fact remains that the addition was not noticed until after the playoff began.

A native of Ireland, Higgins missed the cut at The Irish Open last week but tied for 29th at the BMW International Open the week prior. His lone two major championship appearances came in the British Open, as Higgins missed the cut at Carnoustie in 2007 as well as Turnberry in 2009.

The situation was reminiscent of an incident involving Ian Woosnam at the 2001 British Open, when the Welshman opened the final round at Royal Lytham with a birdie to briefly grab a share of the lead. Upon arriving at the second tee, though, Woosnam realized his bag contained 15 clubs. A two-shot penalty turned the birdie into a bogey, and the former Masters champion ultimately finished in a tie for fourth, four shots behind eventual winner David Duval.

http://www.golfchannel.com/news/golftalkcentral/higgins-loses-open-qualifier-playoff-due-to-15th-club/

realgolfgeek

I don't feel sorry for him to be honest.

Talk about basics!!

mag

co$tly.....

bigtimecharlie

Had just been reading about on Irish golf desk. Would have put last weeks missed-cut behind him.

thewobbler

realgolfgeek wrote: »

I don't feel sorry for him to be honest.

Talk about basics!!

Your lack of sympathy would suggest you achieve perfection in your professional life.

As such you are, of course, entitled to have this opinion.

Karma though has a nice habit of redressing opinions.

ForeRight

Poor fella.

Seems like a freak mistake.

charlieIRL

I have to agree that this was a terrible mistake by David Higgins.
Maybe something that an amateur might do on a rare occasion but not something you would expect to hear from a professional.

Gutted for him at the same time though.

realgolfgeek

thewobbler wrote: »

Your lack of sympathy would suggest you achieve perfection in your professional life.

As such you are, of course, entitled to have this opinion.

Karma though has a nice habit of redressing opinions.

what are you like with your Karma .. seriously, wise up a little.

Of course I have a lack of sympathy.
The simplest and most basic rule to screw up on, what do you expect !!!
It's not the first time its happened and it won't be the last.

Maybe he'll be more careful in future.

Macker1

Very poor prep for a pro at such an important time. Either himself or the caddie must be gutted.

ForeRight

This is happening so regular it seems I wonder do pros have a check off list before hitting on the first.

Before every round a quick scan through very basic and important things such as a club count.

It seems retarded but mistakes are costing these guys trying to make a living serious money.

realgolfgeek

Macker1 wrote: »

Very poor prep for a pro at such an important time. Either himself or the caddie must be gutted.

they should both be gutted,
and the caddie should get the boot.

DuckSlice

its hard to feel sorry for him, it is an amateur mistake at the end of the day. probably cost him a nice bit of cash, he will know better the next time.

i hope Karma doesnt come get me!

paulos53

Some more details here.

http://www.golfcentraldaily.com/2013/07/my-15-club-mistake-higgs-tour-diary.html

OilBeefHooked2

charlieIRL wrote: »

I have to agree that this was a terrible mistake by David Higgins.
Maybe something that an amateur might do on a rare occasion but not something you would expect to hear from a professional.

Gutted for him at the same time though.

realgolfgeek wrote: »

what are you like with your Karma .. seriously, wise up a little.

Of course I have a lack of sympathy.
The simplest and most basic rule to screw up on, what do you expect !!!
It's not the first time its happened and it won't be the last.

Maybe he'll be more careful in future.

etxp wrote: »

its hard to feel sorry for him, it is an amateur mistake at the end of the day. probably cost him a nice bit of cash, he will know better the next time.

i hope Karma doesnt come get me!

Lads FFS ye make it sound like he doesn't know the rules, you can be sure he does.
David is true professional and a gentleman to booth, only the coldest and hardest of hearts can not empathise with someone in this predicament.

charlieIRL

david-k wrote: »

Lads FFS ye make it sound like he doesn't know the rules, you can be sure he does.
David is true professional and a gentleman to booth, only the coldest and hardest of hearts can not empathise with someone in this predicament.

can you point out to me where i said that it sounds like he doesn't understand the rules??
And if you read the last section of my post i did say i was gutted for him.

realgolfgeek

david-k wrote: »

Lads FFS ye make it sound like he doesn't know the rules, you can be sure he does.
David is true professional and a gentleman to booth, only the coldest and hardest of hearts can not empathise with someone in this predicament.

Of course he knows the rules,
obviously just forget to check one of the most basic of rules.
Never said he wasn't a gentleman, I'm sure he is.
A hard lesson learnt. I still don't feel sorry for him though.

GreeBo

realgolfgeek wrote: »

Of course he knows the rules,
obviously just forget to check one of the most basic of rules.
Never said he wasn't a gentleman, I'm sure he is.
A hard lesson learnt. I still don't feel sorry for him though.

so you count your clubs before each round?
I know I don't, because I never have any reason to think I have more than 14, just as he didn't.

gutted for the guy, neither of them had any reason to count them, but it's part of the job for one of them...

realgolfgeek

GreeBo wrote: »

so you count your clubs before each round?

No, because I don't own 15 clubs.

GreeBo wrote: »

neither of them had any reason to count them, but it's part of the job for one of them...

A bit of a contradiction there no ?

Of course these guys should count there clubs before teeing off.
Alot of these guys are on the range with a few extra clubs than what's allowed, so it should be second nature to ensure one of the most basic rules of golf.

I feel sorry for people losing their homes due to corrupt regulators and goverments.
I feel sorry for born starving and dying babies in South Africa.

I certainly don't feel sorry for a professional putting one too many clubs in their bag !!!

GreeBo

realgolfgeek wrote: »

No, because I don't own 15 clubs.

:rolleyes:

realgolfgeek wrote: »

A bit of a contradiction there no ?

Not, not at all. Neither of them had any reason to assume that an extra club had suddenly appeared in the bag, considering they had just played 18 holes with 14 clubs.

realgolfgeek wrote: »

Of course these guys should count there clubs before teeing off.
Alot of these guys are on the range with a few extra clubs than what's allowed, so it should be second nature to ensure one of the most basic rules of golf.

Imo its the job of the caddy to look after the equipment. Sure each player is ultimately responsible for the actions of their caddy, but as a player, paying someone to look after my bag, I know who I'd be blaming.


Random question, do you check all the lights on your car work before you head out driving? Its one of the most basic things to have functioning lights on your car, yet Im willing to bet that you dont check them, every time.

realgolfgeek

GreeBo wrote: »

:rolleyes:


Not, not at all. Neither of them had any reason to assume that an extra club had suddenly appeared in the bag, considering they had just played 18 holes with 14 clubs.



Imo its the job of the caddy to look after the equipment. Sure each player is ultimately responsible for the actions of their caddy, but as a player, paying someone to look after my bag, I know who I'd be blaming.


Random question, do you check all the lights on your car work before you head out driving? Its one of the most basic things to have functioning lights on your car, yet Im willing to bet that you dont check them, every time.

Yes, that is a random question,
Yes, I do check my lights actually. I always drive with my lights on and I know instantly if they're not working.

Agree, it's the job of the Caddy, but at the end of the day, the player has ultimate responsibility as you say.

And I would say there would be even more of a reason to count your clubs, ESPECIALLY if your boot had other clubs in it, which it did !!!

ssbob

realgolfgeek wrote: »

I feel sorry for born starving and dying babies in South Africa.

Why only the kids in South Africa?:P

DuckSlice

david-k wrote: »

Lads FFS ye make it sound like he doesn't know the rules, you can be sure he does.
David is true professional and a gentleman to booth, only the coldest and hardest of hearts can not empathise with someone in this predicament.

My opinion, deal with it!

charlieIRL

I actually check my bag before every round now as I do keep all my clubs in my bag (which is about 16 in total)
There are times where coming up to a round i might not be able to hit my 3 wood out of my way so I leave it in the boot of the car and bring my 4 iron or if i'm not confident chipping around a green I'll leave in my girlie club. Its has only happened once but I didn't check and found I had 15 clubs in my bag after I hit my first drive.

chipsdave

realgolfgeek wrote: »

they should both be gutted,
and the caddie should get the boot.

The Caddie was a local Scots hired for the occasion , while He would not be entirely faultless the circumstances have to be taken into account , seems like Higgins was packing His stuff to go not realising he was in play-off and stuck the club from the booth into his bag , one would imagine He would have parted company from the caddie in the meantime and in the rush back to the play-off the extra club was forgotten about , very much a human error case , hard luck indeed

ForeRight

"I decided to go the range to warm up again and hit a few balls. I just took driver, mid iron and wedge. It was still raining really hard so I kept the rain cover on my bag.

"My caddy for the day, Monty, a local man that knows North Berwick like the back of his hand, had done a great job all day and was up for the play-off.

"We headed for the tee. I hit a good tee shot and good second to about 15 feet. I was hunkered down reading my putt when the thought suddenly came into my head, 'Did I take that other rescue out of the bag?'

"I stood up and felt a bit sick in my stomach as I walked over to the bag to check. And there she was looking up at me!

"It was a horrible thing to happen but I have no-one to blame only myself. I guess the excitement/adrenaline rush of getting another opportunity to play in the greatest golf event in the world clouded my judgement and I made a mistake."

SnowDrifts

Hard to read that and feel anything but sorry for him. And making sure no blame was placed on the caddy was a nice touch too.

GreeBo

chipsdave wrote: »

The Caddie was a local Scots hired for the occasion , while He would not be entirely faultless the circumstances have to be taken into account , seems like Higgins was packing His stuff to go not realising he was in play-off and stuck the club from the booth into his bag , one would imagine He would have parted company from the caddie in the meantime and in the rush back to the play-off the extra club was forgotten about , very much a human error case , hard luck indeed

In that case I wouldnt blame the caddy at all, he was a temp and thus the player should have been looking after all this stuff.
Very hard for a player to suddenly switch on to all the little things a pro caddy does though.
I think its just one of those things unfortunately.

For Paws

Can anybody hazard a guess as to why having more than a certain number of clubs in the bag is subject to penalty ?

Does having 15 clubs confer an advantage so great that players having only 14 are likely to suffer ?

I'm guessing it's an arbitrary number, enshrined by convention, and I'd be in favour of an amendment to the rule that says only clubs, to a limit of 10 including putter, put into play should count.

Rikand

For Paws wrote: »

I'm guessing it's an arbitrary number, enshrined by convention, and I'd be in favour of an amendment to the rule that says only clubs, to a limit of 10 including putter, put into play should count.

could definitely get my bag down to 11, but not sure how I'd get it down to 10 without putting myself at a serious disadvantage

For Paws

Rickylovesuall wrote: »

could definitely get my bag down to 11, but not sure how I'd get it down to 10 without putting myself at a serious disadvantage

ssbob

For Paws wrote: »

Can anybody hazard a guess as to why having more than a certain number of clubs in the bag is subject to penalty ?

At the top end of the game this would be huge especially with the number of wedges players can carry so if Phil Mickelson had his Driver/Frankenwood/3 wood all in the bag along with his 64degree and another player had to make an adjustment then yes Phil would have an advantage.

I could prob play with 10 clubs but would play better with my full compliment!:D

Rikand

For Paws wrote: »

after careful thought, I would drop either my pitching wedge or my putter

Driver, 5 wood, 5 - 9 iron, gap wedge, lob wedge, putter
1,2,3-7,8,9,10

kieran.

For the past month I've only using 10 clubs and have never been playing better. Without the longer clubs theres alot less chance of be getting myself in real trouble.

Playing: Driver, 5 Wood, 6i-9i, PW, GW, SW and a putter. to date haven't stood over a shot and thought I wish i had 'X" club with me so don't miss the Hybrids or Woods at all.

SnowDrifts

Rickylovesuall wrote: »

could definitely get my bag down to 11, but not sure how I'd get it down to 10 without putting myself at a serious disadvantage

Think I could get it down to 1 ....
(Forgive the retro graphics and music but well worth a watch as a lesson of how many different shots you can play with the one club)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlh5E9SVxiE